……..

Carl - Moments before the Attack

The tavern was quiet, as it usually was during the day. Carl moved between the few tables, serving two regulars, a middle aged man and woman, and a traveler, a young man, who had stopped in for a drink. His father had just stepped out, to run a quick errand to the marketplace, to gather ingredients for dinner, leaving Carl in charge of the tavern for the afternoon.

The evenings were busier—especially the nights, with locals coming in after a long day’s work. But for now, the tavern felt peaceful. Not the chaos of the night. No one shouting, spilling their drinks, harassing Sharon about when is she going to marry, or his dad getting carried away and drinking too much with the guards, and the older women who always tease him. He liked the afternoons the best.

Carl was wiping down the counter when a deep, earth-shaking roar ripped through the air. He froze, his heart skipping a beat.

‘What in heavens name…?’ He thought, eyes wide, as the roar echoed through the walls of the tavern, shaking the building itself.

The regulars and the traveler rushed outside, followed quickly by Carl. His breath hitched as he stepped into the street and looked up—an enormous shadow covered the kingdom, a creature soaring through the clouds as itloomed overhead. His heart raced in his chest, his feet glued to the ground.

Screams erupted from the people around him as the creature’s shadow passed over them. Carl stood frozen, watching the beast circle the city. He couldn’t move, couldn’t think, as the terrifying sight unfolded before him.

The creature reared its head and unleashed a torrent of fire not so far from him, it was actually close to Keith’s house, he thought. The fire sending the crowd into a frenzy. Fire? Carl thought. ‘Dragon!’ his mind finding the name of the creature. People scrambled and ran in every direction, pushing and shoving in sheer panic.

Carl stood frozen, his heart pounding louder than the dragon’s roar. The world around him blurred into a haze of smoke, screams, and fire.

‘My father!’ The thought broke through his shock. His father was still out in the marketplace. The regulars and traveller had left, he didn’t even notice them leave.

Carl turned on his heel and rushed back into the tavern, his legs weak and his hands trembling. He grabbed a small dagger from under the bar, that his father kept their, in case any customer got too violent and tucked it into his belt, though he knew it was futile against a dragon. He felt safer if only a little bit with it and his father was still out there—Carl had to go find him.

Carl came out of the tavern, seeing people running and shouting, he pushed through the chaos in the streets. People were running northward, toward the gates. The air was thick with smoke and the stench of burning wood and flesh. He tried to stay on his feet, but the crowd surged around him, knocking him to the ground several times, but he got back up every time and just kept running towards the market place.

He glanced to his right and saw two guards—men who had been in the tavern just that morning—cutting through the crowd with their swords, attacking anyone in their way to get to the northern gates. Carl’s breath quickened. He quickly entered into an alleyway and pressed his back against a wall, his heart pounding in his chest as he struggled to breathe, he was never one for overly stressful situations.

The chaos, the screams, the heat of the fire—it was too much. He felt dizzy, his vision tunneling. His father was out here somewhere, but Carl couldn’t even take another step. His entire body trembled in fear. Then he took deep breaths, Keith always told him to take when he felt like he would faint, to try and calm himself down. He had to do it, to find his father. He steeled his nerves, and ran for the marketplace with more determination than ever. And he had reached it. He began looking for his father all around, trying his best to see through the smoke, hear through the screams, feel through the panic.

TWANG!

He suddenly heard a loud noise echoed from the capital, he didn’t understand what was happening and ducked, hoping that whatever it was it ignored him.

ROAR!!!

He then heard the dragon roar in pain, thrashing in the air. He didn’t know why but he felt good and happy at the sound of it being in pain. At the sound of it hurting just like the rest of the people it hurt were hurting. But he just shook his head, he had to focus on finding his dad.

“Dad!” he called out, joining the wails of terrified children, each scream more frantic than the last, calling out for their parents, hoping they would hear them, through the chaos and come get them.

Then he saw it.

Through the haze of smoke and bodies, Carl spotted his father lying on the ground a few yards away. He was half-burned, his clothes singed and half his face unrecognizable. Carl felt like the ground had been ripped out from beneath him.

‘No... no, no, no…’ His mind spiraled as the world around him faded into a blur.

His knees buckled. The last thing he saw was his father’s lifeless body—his eyes raked with anguish and pain, the world tilted, his breath caught in his throat.

Carl woke to the oppressive silence of the aftermath. His head throbbed, his body aching. He blinked, trying to focus as the sounds of the world slowly came back to him—a faint crackling of fire, the distant creaking of collapsing buildings. He was confused for a bit. ‘What had happened?’ ‘Why was he here?’ Then he remembered, his memories coming back with a vengeance, he remembered the screams, the fire, the bodies, and the dragon. But they were gone. The screams were gone. The dragon was gone. They were all gone. Everything. All that remained in its place was the horror of it all.

He pushed himself up on shaky arms, looking around in gruesome realization. He wasn’t sure for how long he was out, but it had been a while. Because the streets were empty now, littered with debris and bodies. Smoke drifted lazily in the air, and the acrid smell of death filled his nostrils.

His eyes fell on his father’s body again, lying where he had fallen. His breath caught in his throat at the sight, as he crawled over to him, tears streaming down his face.

“Dad…,” he whispered, his voice breaking. “Please…wake up, please”

But there was no answer. His father’s eye was closed, he vaguely remembered it being open, his body cold.

Carl sat there for what felt like hours, crying into the silence. He felt alone. He was alone. He was completely alone now. His father was gone. His home was gone. Everything he had ever known was gone.

After a while, Carl wiped his face, his chest still heaving with sobs. ‘Keith,’ he thought suddenly. His cousin. His aunt. They had to be somewhere. Maybe they had made it out alive. Maybe they were waiting for him. He knew that was unlikely, but a part of him still wished it were true.

Carl staggered to his feet, visibly shaking, his legs weak beneath him, and began walking toward his aunt’s house. The streets were eerily quiet, the once-bustling city now a graveyard of smoldering buildings and charred bodies.He wasn’t shocked or scared by the amount of destruction and bodies that lay around him. His heart felt frozen and his mind shut out. He just looked at everything with a numb feeling. No amount of charred bodies, organs, broken buildings, could make him feel anything. He just wanted to get to Keith’s house and see if his last string of hope was still intact and not cut off, like the rest of him.

When he reached the house, he froze. The roof had collapsed, the front wall half-burned, and the door hanging off its hinges. He stepped through the rubble, his heart sinking as he took in the devastation.

His aunt lay beneath a pile of wood and stone, her body still, her face pale but with a warm smile on her lips. Carl dropped to his knees beside her, tears blurring his vision once more. His heart aching at the sight. His once beautiful and warm aunt, now lay here dead and cold.

“Auntie…,” he whispered, but he knew there would be no response, just like his father.

Desperately, he called out for Keith. “Keith! Keith, are you here?”

But only silence answered him.

The silence was deafening. Carl knew then, with absolute certainty, that he was the only one left. The only one alive in his family.

With his heart heavy and his body numb, Carl walked toward the northern gate, following the faint trail of survivors. He felt hollow, his mind a blur of grief and disbelief. Everything was gone. His father, his aunt, Keith… they were all gone. He thought through the quiet sobs. He couldn’t believe it, just this morning everything was normal, he was planning on going to the fountain again with Keith, but now all his thoughts and plans for the future lay scattered and destroyed very much like his kingdom.

As he neared the gate, he saw a few people huddled together, waiting to flee. One of them, a woman, saw him approaching and called out to him. She looked older than she was, as if the recent ordeal had made her age a few years, covered in smoke and grime.

“Are you alone boy, where’s your family?” she asked gently, her voice tinged with sorrow. The same sorrow he was going through. ‘She probably lost someone too’ he thought.

Carl could only shake his head, unable to speak, still quietly crying.

The woman nodded, a look of understanding flashing through her eyes. “Come with us, then. We’ll take you with us, we’re going to the Sky Claw Kingdom, it will be safe there.”

Carl didn’t respond, but he followed them. Before he passed through the gate, he turned to look back at the kingdom one last time.

The sight of his home burning under the pale moonlight sent a fresh wave of pain through him. He felt something stir with him, something changing. Then his mind snapped. His eyes still filled with the pain of sorrow and grief but another emotion was there, threatening to over power the rest, it was anger and hatred. It burned viciously within him, threatening to consume him. He stared at his destroyed kingdom. The memories of his family passing through his mind, he felt pain but he also fet anger and he would avenge them. Whatever it took. Whatever it cost. He would avenge them. Nothing and no one is going to stand in my way. ‘Dad, Auntie, Keith, I swear to you on this day…’

He clenched his fists, his teeth grinding together as a single, burning thought took root in his mind.

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‘I’ll find that dragon. And I’ll kill it.’

….……..

The Woods Beyond the Kingdom.

Keith ran. He ran and ran until his legs burned, his lungs ached, but he didn’t stop, he couldn’t stop. He had to run as far as his legs could carry him, because he had to fulfill his mother’s final wish.

The farther he went from the kingdom, the quieter the world became, the sounds of the destruction fading into the distance. But in his mind, the echoes lingered—the screams, the roar of the dragon, the crackling of fire. It all followed him like ghosts haunting his every step.

He stumbled over a fallen branch, falling on the muddy ground, his breath coming in ragged gasps. He had to keep going he couldn’t stop. His feet carried him deeper into the woods, though he had no destination in mind. He didn’t want to follow the others, didn’t want to be among the panicked crowd. He couldn’t bear to see the fear in their eyes—it only reminded him of his own.

The trees loomed tall around him, their shadows long in the dim light of the setting sun. He had no sense of direction, no idea how far he had run. The world around him blurred with the weight of his grief. All he knew was that he had to keep moving. He couldn’t stop. Not now.

‘Mother…’

The thought of her twisted in his chest, like a knife cutting deeper with every step. The memory of her voice, so soft yet so final, echoed in his mind.

“Run... run and don’t look back.”

But he had looked back. The image of his home in flames, of his mother trapped beneath the rubble, was burned into his memory. He would never forget it. His legs weakened beneath him, and he staggered forward, falling to his knees.

For a moment, Keith remained there, his hands digging into the dirt, his body shaking. His eyes forever scarred in pain and suffering. He wanted to scream, but no sound came. He wanted to cry but none came. His tears had dried up hours ago, leaving only a hollow and bitter emptiness inside him.

Keith didn’t know how long he stayed there, kneeling on the forest floor, when suddenly a loud crash echoed through the woods. It jolted him from his daze, his head snapping up. His heart raced, fear prickling at the back of his neck.

‘What was that?’

He stood, his legs still trembling, and looked around. The sound had come from somewhere deep in the forest. It was distant, but close enough to make his skin crawl. He wiped the dirt from his hands, he wanted to run in the opposite direction of the loud crash but then stopped and for reasons unknown to even him, he began moving toward the noise, his steps cautious but steady.

As he walked, the air grew colder, the trees denser, the shadows longer. Keith felt small and insignificant beneath their towering presence. His ears strained to catch any sound—anything that might explain the crash. But the forest was eerily silent, save for the rustle of leaves under his feet.

Then, through the trees, he saw it.

The dragon lay in the clearing ahead, its massive body slumped against the earth, and a line of shattered trees in its wake. Two spears jutted from its side, its dark blood seeping into the ground. The sight stopped Keith in his tracks. His breath hitched in his throat, fear gripping every facet of his being and for a moment, all he could do was stare. He wanted to run but his feet stood rooted in place. Then he noticed it could barely move. It was weakened.

It was the same dragon that had destroyed his home, the same one that had taken everything from him. And after his bewilderment and sudden trance cleared. Anger flared in his chest, sudden and fierce. Without thinking, he rushed forward, and before he knew it his feet carried him in front of the beast.

"Why?!" Keith’s voice cracked as he screamed, filled it pain and hate. "Why?!"

He reached the dragon and began beating his fists against its scales, not caring about the pain that shot through his hands. His blows were weak, pitiful against the creature’s massive body, but he didn’t care. Each strike was a cry for his mother, for his home, for everything the dragon had taken from him. His heart pounded, his breath coming in sharp, ragged gasps as he struck the dragon again and again. Trying to inflict pain on it. The same pain it had inflicted upon him, upon his uncle, his kingdom, his mum.

"Why did you do this?!" he shouted, his voice echoing in the empty clearing. "Why did you take everything from me?!" his knuckles torn, now dripping with blood, his blood of course, as his hands for all the fury that fueled it, couldn’t cause any damage upon the dragon’s scales.

The dragon didn’t move. Its massive body remained still, though its eyes flickered toward him, filled with something Keith didn’t expect—pain. The anger in his chest wavered, his fists slowing as he looked into the creature’s eyes.

For a moment, he saw something that stopped him cold. It was the same look his mother had given him just before she told him to run. A look of suffering, but also... love?

Keith stumbled back, his hands dropping to his sides. He stared at the dragon, confusion and anger warring inside him. Then, slowly, the dragon shifted, its massive wings moving to reveal something nestled against its chest.

Keith’s breath caught in his throat as he saw it—a large, scaly object, gleaming faintly in the fading light. An egg.

The realization hit him like a blow. The dragon hadn’t attacked his kingdom out of mindless rage. It was something else—something he knew all too well.

It, no—She had been searching for something—this egg. her child.

Keith just stood there absolutely floored by the revelation. Then his anger came back overpowering his reasoning and understanding of the truth.

His eyes burned red. His first instinct was to destroy the egg. His hands itched with the desire to crush it, to make her feel the same loss, the same pain, that he felt, the same way he felt when he saw his mother died in front of his eyes. But when he moved toward it, she pushed him back with its nose, gently but firmly.

He stood there, trembling with anger and grief, his bloodied fists clenched at his sides. He wanted the dragon to lash out, to burn him to ash, to end his suffering. He had nothing left. No home, no family. He was alone.

"Do it!" he screamed at her. "Kill me! Burn me like you burned my mother! Do it!"

But the dragon didn’t move. Instead, she just stared at him shouting and urging her to kill him. But she didn’t oblige. She just kept look at him.

And when he had calmed down, and was huffing trying to gather his breath, she nudged the egg closer to Keith, almost... as if she was offering it to him.

Keith hesitated, his heart pounding in his chest. He was confused at her action, he questioned the reasoning behind her decisions. Why give him something he had just tried to destroy? He couldn’t understand it. So he just stared at it for a while before slowly, he reached out and touched the egg with the tip of his finger and after concluding nothing was wrong with it. He collected into his arms. It had a rough and smooth surface, darker than night in color, it was heavy, if he placed it on the ground it would reach his knees, he was shocked by how large it was but most importantly.

It was warm.

His breath hitched as a fresh wave of grief washed over him. It was the same warmth he had felt when he was close to his mother. That familiar, comforting warmth. Tears welled in his eyes, tears he thought had dried from his well, came pouring out again, in loud wails, as he clutched the egg to his chest, his body shaking with sobs.

The dragon shifted again, and Keith felt her body pressing against him, enveloping him in warmth. It was almost... protective. The heat from her body spread through him, soothing the aching hollowness inside him. The pain that has been throbbing inside of him felt less painful. For the first time since he had run from the kingdom, he felt... safe.

Keith held the egg close, as if trying to ingrain the warmth on his body, his tears falling freely now. His sobs echoed through the clearing, pitiful and raw, the sound of a heart broken beyond repair. The sound of a heart stricken with grief and trauma.

He thought of his mother, of the warmth she had always given him, the way she had held him close to sleep when he was afraid. And now, here he was, cradled by a dragon, doing the same thing, a creature that had taken everything from him, yet gave him back some small piece of comfort.

He cried until he couldn’t cry anymore, his body shaking with exhaustion. The warmth of the dragon’s body and the weight of the egg in his arms lulled him into a dazed, dreamlike state. The pain was still there, but it was distant now, muffled by the heat surrounding him.

Eventually, his sobs quieted, his breathing slowed, and sleep took him. The dragon watched him with her soft, golden eyes, her massive form curled protectively around the boy and the egg.

As Keith drifted off, his last thought was of his mother—her smile, her voice, her warmth. And for the first time since the dragon attack, he didn’t feel entirely alone.

….……..

Keith awoke to a strange stillness. His eyes fluttered open, the remnants of his tears still drying on his cheeksas he had cried himself to sleep deep into the night. He lay there for a moment, wrapped in warmth—the same warmth he had felt the night before, the same warmth that had soothed him after his mother’s death.

But something felt different now. The warmth wasn’t as strong, as steady. It was fading.

Keith pushed himself up, the dragon’s wing slowly falling away as he moved. He rubbed his eyes and looked at the massive creature beside him, only to realize that the dragon’s once-powerful eyes had dulled. Where they had once held strength, now they were dim and sad, filled with a quiet resignation.

The dragon’s breathing was shallow, labored. she was dying.

Keith’s heart tightened in his chest. The same beast that had brought destruction upon his home, the one he had wanted to hate, which he tried so hard to hate and some part of him did, was now lying there in its final moments.

And yet, as he looked at it, he felt his anger and hate slowly fading away, all he felt was the same pain he had felt when he lost his mother.

Slowly, he reached out, trying to return the egg that still rested in his arms. But the dragon shook her head weakly, nudging the egg back to him with what little strength she had left, her gaze heavy with a wordless plea.

Keith stared at the dragon, confused. ‘Why? Why give me this?’ He didn’t understand, but she seemed to have made her choice. she had entrusted him with something precious—her child.

Then, the dragon extended its forelimb. Keith noticed something strange—clutched in its claws were two objects, a sharp fang and a long, curved claw. The dragon offered them to him, her eyes now half-lidded as she watched him.

Keith hesitated, still holding the egg tightly. His heart raced, confusion swirling in his mind.

‘Why is it giving these to me?’ He stepped closer and gently took the fang which was a little bigger than his hand, but couldn’t carry the claw as it was more than half his size, looking thick and heave, while carrying the egg, she then placed it beside his leg and he noticed how one of its fangs was missing from its mouth and how its claw had been ripped from its own limb. The sacrifice was clear—these were tokens of the dragon’s legacy. Just like the necklace that his mother had given him which lay on his chest.

Keith stood there, holding the egg in one hand resting it upon his abdomen and the dragon’s fang in the other. He didn’t know why, but the sight of her lying there, her life slowly slipping away, filled him with a deep, aching sorrow. It was the same feeling he had felt when he saw his mother dying, the same helplessness, the same grief, the same pain.

Tears welled up in his eyes again, and he collapsed beside the dragon, resting his head against her massive neck, feeling the faint warmth of her breath against his skin. His sobs echoed through the clearing, raw and heart-wrenching. He held the egg close, clutching it like it was the last connection to the warmth he had lost.

The dragon let out a soft, rumbling coo, nudging Keith gently as if to comfort him. Keith pressed his face into her scales, crying like a child, the pain of his mother’s death and the dragon’s impending loss too much to bear.

For a long time, they stayed like that—Keith, the dragon, and the egg—bound by grief and a strange, unexpected connection. When Keith finally lifted his head, sheoffered him her own. Keith placed his forehead against the dragon’s, a silent gesture of understanding, and of farewell.

The dragon’s breath was weak, but it stayed there for a while, her massive eyes closed as she shared that final, tender moment with Keith. Then, she drew back slowly, nudging him gently as if to say, ‘It’s time to go.’

Keith sniffled, trying to hold back his tears. The dragon reminded him of his mother, the way she had comforted him and protected him, even as she lay dying. With a heavy heart, he stood up, holding the egg tightly.

As Keith began to walk deeper into the woods leaving the claw for later, the dragon behind him let out a final, resounding roar. It was a sound filled with everything—pain, loss, power, and defiance. And most importantly hope, hope that Keith and her child will survive and live life well, in happiness and peace. The roar echoed through the trees, vibrating the very earth beneath Keith’s feet.

He turned around just in time to see the dragon slump to the ground, its body still at last.

His heart broke again, but this time, he didn’t scream. He just stood there, his heart acing but his eyes dry. He wouldn’t cry anymore. He had to survive.

For a moment he just stood there, staring at the dragon’s lifeless form, the egg still snug in his arms. Then, the egg began to tremble slightly, as if sensing the loss.

Before Keith could react to the sudden action, a massive shadow blotted out the sky above him. He looked up, dread filling his chest as a much, much more larger dragon descended from the clouds, its wings darkening the forest below.

Keith’s heart stopped for a moment, and instinctively, he ran behind a nearby tree, hiding as the new dragon landed with a thunderous crash.

The ground shook beneath its weight, sending tremors through the forest.

From his hiding place, Keith watched as the larger dragon approached the fallen one. It was dark green in color. Its body was way bigger than the already large dead dragon. Its horns large and twisted around it head like a sort of crown. It looked regal and majestic. It body and presence was mystical. It sniffed at the body, nudging it gently with its nose, as if trying to wake it. When there was no response, the larger dragon prodded it again, this time with its massive clawed hand.

Then, the larger dragon let out a roar unlike any Keith had ever heard—louder than even when the dragon had just attacked his kingdom, it was more primal, filled with an almost unbearable sorrow. The sound pierced the sky, shaking the trees, sending the remaining birds scattering from the treetops. Keith felt the roar deep in his bones, the pain and loss of the larger dragon resonating with his own.

After what felt like an eternity, the larger dragon lifted the body of the fallen one in its jaws, holding it gently between its teeth. It wrapped its arms around the smaller dragon’s body and prepared to take flight.

But just as it was about to lift off, the larger dragon’s eyes flickered toward the tree where Keith hid. Its slit eyes constricting. Its glowing green gaze locked onto him, and for a moment, Keith’s breath caught in his throat. His heart pounded as the dragon stared at him.

Then, just as suddenly as it had come, the larger dragon flew off, carrying the body of the fallen one with it. Keith watched in awe and fear as the massive creature disappeared into the sky, leaving him alone once again, in the deep forest.

Keith stood there for a long time, staring at the spot where the dragons had been. It now dried and hardened blood. His heart ached, but he didn’t cry. Not this time. Not anymore.

He looked down at the egg in his hands, then at the necklace his mother had given him. Her voice echoed in his mind, clear and comforting, like she was standing right beside him.

"Live, Keith... I want you to live, for the both of us."

Keith took a deep breath, feeling a wave of determination wash over him. He bowed deeply to the place where the dragon had lain, a gesture of respect and gratitude. Then, he turned and began walking deeper into the woods, his steps sure and steady.

He had lost so much, but he wasn’t going to let it stop him. He would live—for his mother, for his uncle, for Carl, and for the dragon egg that now rested in his arms.

As he walked into the unknown, the future seemed a little less bleak. He had hope. And with a dragon by his side, maybe—just maybe—he could find a way to keep going.

‘one isn’t born without a mother’s warmth but must learn to live life starved of it’